Arthdal Chronicles Producers should learn from Alchemy Of Souls’ own

Jesufemi Adesiyan 

 

With the completion of the Korean series, Alchemy of Souls, I think it is a high time Kim Young-Hyun and Park Sang-Yeon—writers of Arthdal Chronicles and all its producers learn from the Hong sisters and producers of Alchemy Of souls. This is essential because Alchemy-Of-Souls started airing on June 18, 2022, and did not spend up to a year before completing the series on January 8 2023. This is a sharp contrast to Arthdal Chronicles, released in 2019 and its season 2, which has yet to be released, hitherto.

 

But the disturbing aspect is, both movies have Studio Dragon as their producers, and while one is a success, one has yet to be completed.

 

In an interview with some of the eager fanatics of Arthdal Chronicles, writer Joy Ogitse said “producers of Arthdal Chronicles probably have run out of funds while its writers, out of inspiration to complete the series. But what they have forgotten is they have made the promise, it is unkind of them to delay the thirst of the viewers this long.”

 

Four years is a long process for a movie series to be released, producer Dan said. While it takes a whole lot of time to produce movies with long seasons like Jumong, Game of Thrones, etc., taking about more than three years to produce a season is too insidiously demoralising.

 

As much as human wants are insatiable, when it takes a long process to satisfy humans, well, they can always look for alternatives, Ogitse said. “As for.me, I am not sure I’ll watch the movie again when released.”

 

It became a matter of concern to again say, entertainment is a key aspect of humanity. We all love to be entertained, thrilled and enthralled. One aspect of entertainment is movies. In the world of movies, preferences of the genre are never underrated nor underestimated in any way. We love to be entertained in different ways. Movie producers on their path know how to go by making movies sell and even garner viewership in the long run.

 

Korean drama series are a source of relaxation and even a good avenue to while away time, but when it is getting too long or unnecessarily delayed, it gets bland of interest.

 

The hotcake which currently surpasses Arthdal Chronicles in the K-drama world is the ‘Alchemy of souls’. With mesmerising performances from the actors, amazing settings and props, captivating and mind-blowing actions and overall properties of the series; the storyline and the deep depiction of unforgettable characters. Almost all of their characters embodied their performances. It is a big thumbs up to them, unlike Arthdal Chronicles.

 

The first season aired from June 1 to September 22, 2019, on tvN, the series was set in the bronze age, long before the establishment of the Goryeo dynasty. The settings, by me, were perfect, though it attracted criticism of contrasting congruency based on some of the civilised objects used in the movie, the movie is still one of the best until the producers and writers sent the enthusiasm of fans on sabbatical.

 

Recently, the production team of the series announced it will start airing the series in early 2023, but none has been done. Meanwhile, this was how they promised in 2020, 2021 and 2022. Even if the next season is released, do you think after three years would be worth the wait? Well, let us look at the ‘Alchemy of souls’ smart move in the market. I cannot help but continually rain an awe of applause on them.

 

The Delay, Denial and Descending of Arthdal Chronicles

 

Well, a series might be delayed by many factors which may range from finances, criticism and reception among others. Shall we now say that finance played a huge role in delaying the series ‘Arthdal Chronicles’ and it did not affect ‘Alchemy of souls’ Despite having same producers?

 

The former had been aired long before the latter. Remember that it was first aired in 2019 with promises that it will air in 2020. Entering 2020 witnessed the incoming of the novel virus, Coronavirus. Things went down in the year. Economic crisis coupled with lockdown and so many other things.

 

This might have affected the actions of the series, but the question is are the producers out of content before the lockdown? Foresighting what is to come should have been helpful to the producers. They could have had enough episodes to be released to prevent loss of interest on the part of the viewers.

 

While ‘Alchemy of soul’s producers has the floor for themselves. In between the airing of both series, a series was aired 2021/2022, ‘Squid game’. It was also a global success even though it was very short.

 

Finances could have hindered the immediate release of the series. Many criticised the series for many reasons best known to them. With a budget of ₩54 billion, one could guess that it is an expensive budget. ‘Alchemy of souls’ on the other hand cost over ₩5 billion in building the filming site.

 

Criticism from critics and fans does affect ‘Arthdal Chronicles’. The series was heavily criticised for a clear deviation from portraying the actual relics of the Bronze Age. Some claim that there are similarities between the series and ‘Game of thrones’. With such reviews from experts, the viewership and fans’ reviews suggest that it is not an interesting series to watch.

 

But the anticipation of the new episodes from the producers shows that the series is not dead, perhaps maybe one of the best to surpass one of the longest Korean series, Jumong. The thrilling actions continue and more likely, a better one.

 

Read Also: Alchemy-Of-Souls: Two Mighty Souls Love Jang Uk

 

Jesufemi Adesiyan is a literary artist with PIJAlance Magazine. He writes on works of arts.